"Lent is a Time to Get Tuned Up, to Get Back to Basics, to Remember the Fundamentals"

I'm challenging my readers to sign up for Father Robert Barron's Lenten Reflections. His first one, in part, follows:

At the beginning of baseball season, the coach has to bring his players back to basics. He has to remind them of the three-point stance, the mechanics of throwing, the timing of a swing, the importance of keeping your eye on the ball, etc. It doesn’t matter how great of a season a player had the year before. He has to begin spring training with the basics because before he can do spectacular things in a sport, he must make sure he is doing the simple and elemental things well.

The same is true in the spiritual life. Lent is a time to get tuned up, to get back to basics, to remember the fundamentals. This is why the Church asks us to look at the beginning of the book of Genesis, the story of the creation and the fall.

We’ve heard it often; it’s probably emblazoned in our minds—but we need to hear it again: “The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.” On Ash Wednesday, we hear echoes of this in the words, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

He's got a bit more, read it all then sign up.

And if Father Barron isn't exactly your cup of tea, maybe Chris Stefanick is.  He too is posting daily during Lent:

Many people today don’t develop a spiritual life because their lives are too noisy. Our longing for the spiritual and searching for God is part of who we are.

Yet, religious practice is dying for most of us. We’re losing touch with God. But that’s only because we’ve lost touch with ourselves, with our own hearts, and with our longing for a love, peace, joy, and glory that are greater than this world.

But when we make time for silence, and for quiet prayer, reflection, and fasting, we begin to recognize what mankind has known throughout history: that we are looking for “something more.” Something greater than us, and something greater than the world.

Our own hearts’ longings are drowned out by the “noise” of a culture inundated with passing news, social networking, and countless to do’s.

We lose touch with our longing for deeper things by filling our lives with lesser things.

Take some time for silence. Carve out a single day each week this Lent (try Sunday) where you “unplug” from your devices, turn off the TV, make the kids turn in their phones, and create some time for silence.

Carry on... and make this Lent unlike any.